This invention relates to closures for bracelets such as identification bands, and specifically to an improved closure which may be adjusted in one direction (such as for tightening the band) but not in an opposite direction (such as loosening the bracelet).
The use of identification bracelets is substantial, both in traditional areas such as hospital patient admissions and in relatively new applications such as crowd control and patron identification. Typically, such bracelets are assembled around a wearer's wrist and some attachment means affixes the ends of the band together in a fixed, non-changing circumference that is large enough to be comfortable for the wearer but small enough to prevent the band from being slipped over the wearer's hand. Identification bands can also be used to identify objects.
In certain applications, it is useful to provide a bracelet that can be affixed to a person or object and subsequently reduced in circumference, or "tightened". For example, newborn babies frequently lose weight and correspondingly lose "size" during the first few days after their births. Among other places, this "size" loss occurs in the wrists, hands, feet and ankles of the infant. As the infant's hands and feet "shrink" a fixed-circumference bracelet becomes looser and looser, eventually becoming so loose that it may be slipped over the infant's hand or foot. When this occurs, the bracelet ceases to function properly because it no longer identifies the infant with the intended degree of certainty, and may in fact completely cease to identify the infant (depending on whether the separated bracelet remains adjacent the infant or not). It therefore becomes desirable to reduce the likelihood that an identification bracelet assembly could be inadvertently slipped off of a newborn's wrist or ankle because of the reduced size of the infant's hand or foot.
One bracelet product that provides this "downsizability" is distributed by Bio-Logics Products, Inc. It incorporates a relatively complex, multi-part closure assembly including a roller, a ramped wedgelike insert, and a retaining sleeve having multiple openings therein. The roller and wedge insert are retained within the sleeve, and are intended to permit the bracelet to be tightened but not loosened.
In addition to the complex manufacture and assembly required for the Bio-Logics device, it can be manipulated rather easily after assembly so that it does not accomplish its intended purpose. Specifically, if the Bio-Logics device is oriented at the proper angle, gravity can pull the Bio-Logics roller element out of its "wedging" engagement, making it possible to loosen and even completely undo the Bio-Logics bracelet assembly (and thereby remove it from the person or object). Obviously, the Bio-Logics device (and all other bracelet devices of which the inventor is aware) leaves much to be desired in terms of addressing the needs for a reliable, adjustable bracelet of this type.